Two Gardens That Will Transport You: Conservatory Garden and Wave Hill

“A garden is a lovesome thing!” -Thomas Edward Brown (19^th century poet)

I’ve never had a garden of my own. I’ve dabbled in some window boxes and flower pots, sure, but never have I tended to an honest-to-goodness garden plot.

This may explain why I have been a bit obsessed lately with unearthing urban gardens. Two particularly lovesome ones are the Conservatory Garden in Central Park and Wave Hill in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

The six-acre Conservatory Garden is Central Park’s only formal garden and is divided into three sections: 1) the north, or French, garden; 2) the central, or Italian, garden, and; 3) the south, or English garden.

To enter the Conservatory Garden, pass through Vanderbilt Gate, which originally made up the entrance to the Vanderbilt Mansion at Fifth Avenue and 58^th Avenue (currently the site of Bergdorf Goodman) and were installed in the garden in 1939.

Charlie, Vivi, and I spent most of our time in the English garden, meandering along sun-dappled pathways through bright fuchsia crepe myrtle trees and clusters of black-eyed Susans. We stopped and paid our respects to a fountain honoring English author Frances Hodgson Burnett, best known for her children’s books, The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, which I can’t wait to read to Charlie and Vivi in a couple of years.

Shady walkways in the English garden

Summer blooms in the English Garden

The Frances Hodgson Burnett Fountain and reflecting pool

There are well-maintained and clean public restrooms within the garden, and if you begin to tire of being surrounded by so much beauty (we didn’t), you can visit El Museo del Barrio or the Museum of the City of New York, both of which are located across the street along Fifth Avenue, or head to one of the many playgrounds on Central Park’s East Side (we did—to Robert Bendheim Playground located five blocks south at 100^th Street).

Wave Hill was originally built as a country home in 1843 and was rented out by, among others, both the family of Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain before being bought by George W. Perkins, a partner of J.P. Morgan, in 1903. Over the years, Perkins devoted considerable time, energy, and money to beautifying the grounds and enhancing its breathtaking vistas. In 1960, his family gave Wave Hill to the City of New York and it opened as a public garden in 1965.

Today, its attractions include a flower garden bursting with dahlias, sages, and sunflowers; a wild garden filled with amaranthus and lilies; herb and dry gardens, an aquatic garden with floating water lilies and lotuses, a conservatory; a pergola framing breathtaking views of the Hudson River and the Palisades on the opposite shore; woodland trails; and great expanses of lawn.

Vivi and her grandmother, GB, sitting under the pergola overlooking the Hudson River

Sketching flowers in the Elliptical Garden

Hunting for frogs in the Aquatic Garden

On summer weekends, Wave Hill offers a myriad of programs for the whole family, including Family Art Projects every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. On the Saturday of our visit it was one of Target’s Free Days, so our entrance fee was waived. On Wednesday evenings during July and August, leave the kids with a babysitter and enjoy a date night when the grounds stay open until 8:30 PM—you can enjoy a yoga class, take a guided garden walk or simply kick back with a beer and barbecue at the café.

Conservatory Garden, Fifth Avenue & 105^th Street, Central Park, New York (Upper East Side), New York, www.centralpark.com or www.centralparknyc.org; Hours: Daily, 8:00 AM to dusk; FREE.

Wave Hill, West 249^th Street and Independence Avenue, Bronx, New York 10471, (718) 549-3200, www.wavehill.org; Hours: Closed Mondays, Tuesday to Sunday, April 15^th-October 14^th: 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM; Admission: Adults: $8; Children six and over: $2; Parking: $8; Target Free Days include Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, year-round.

Day 1 of Summer Vacation: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

At the beginning of April, Vivi and I had been a little too early to catch most of the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Undeterred, we returned on June 9th with five-year-old Charlie in tow and my Mom bag laden with sketchbooks and snacks. The incredibly fast, incredibly easy 32-minute subway ride (the 2/3 to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum) made me incredibly happy, as did the fact that my New York Botanical Garden (you say Botanic, I say Botanical. Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto) membership got me in for free.

The last of the cherry blossoms had blown away, but here are some of the things that we did see and do:

Alexander Calder’s Le Guichet (The Box Office), which was created for Lincoln Center in 1963 and on loan to the BBG this summer in honor of its 100^th anniversary

Charlie’s dreamy synopsis of the roses in their full June splendor in the Cranford Rose Garden:

“I wish this was our backyard and every day I could just come out here and stare into my imagination and draw flowers.” (this was before he stood over me critiquing my sketch of the rose garden and pointing out everything I’d left out and then stomped off in a wounded huff when I told him that everyone sees and draws things differently. Um, does the five-year-old know-it-all phase last through manhood?)

Channeling their inner Bonsai

Charlie and Vivi “staring into their imaginations and drawing flowers” in the Shakespeare Garden

The Shakespeare Garden, which apparently was past its peak and looked charming in its blowsiness and with its wonderfully whimsical and British-sounding blooms: “Apricot Faerie Queen” and Sweet Scabious and Primrose and Lamb’s Quarters and Fuller’s Teasel and Pansy-Love-in-Idleness and Lark’s Heels and, my absolute favorite, Cuckoo-Bud

A respite from “the noise, dust and confusion of the city streets”

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 900 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11223, www.bbg.org; Open Tuesday to Friday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (but come early to avoid large school groups, particularly of the sulky, belligerent, potty-mouthed middle school variety), Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Closed Mondays; Admission: $8 for non-member adults; Free for children 12 and under